End of an era - Traded in my Vibe

[joatmon]

Bought my 03 Vibe 12/30/2002, and it finally developed enough issues that I decided it was not worth continuing to repair it.

Final mileage was 288,848. It needed a new clutch, and new cat, and major engine work to stop the oil burning and oil leaks. Over the years, the car's lack of power windows/locks and cruise control bothered me more than I thought it would when I bought it. Also, the 10 year experiment with a "Toyota reliability" manual transmission along with increasing need to drive in congested urban areas left me with a longing to only have two pedals. Still, I spent a lot of time in that car. I kept a record of every time I put gas in it and over the length of my ownership I had an overall average of 35.7 MPGs

The dealer said it will end up as a junkyard vehicle. Even though it's a Vibe, at 288K miles it had almost no trade in value. I could have kept it and parted it out, but really, aside from a few interior trim pieces, not much else there worth the hassle, certainly not enough to indefinitely put up with a disassembled car in the yard. So its gone, and I will never see it again

Anyway, this all went down yesterday, and I wanted to let you all know about it, a sort of closure for me on that car and the ten years I have spent posting about it here on genvibe.

Here is a link to a pic of (formerly) my Vibe, next to what I traded it in for
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[808 Vibes]

*sniff* that's sad they actually said that. You had a good run with her, and congrats on finding her twin sister!

[Rayven01]

Had me going there until you added the picture. A suitable tribute to her to purchase an exact duplicate in better shape! Although the replacement looks like it needs some TLC on the cladding.

[Chiadog]

"Variety is the spice of life"
Congrats, You will LOVE the cruise control and auto tranny!
chiadog

[tpollauf]

WOW ... you had me going there also until I saw the pic At first I thought it was a pic of when you first took delivery of it back in 2003 and there was another 03 on the lot, along with the Buick Rendezvous. Based on your join date & number of posts, I'd say you are the one of the oldest "still active" members here & I thank your for your involvement to all of us. Post a better pic of your newer vibe soon with other info (mileage, options, etc.) Congrats on the "newer to you USED Vibe" and for staying in the Vibe family

[ColonelPanic]

It was a good run! I was really disappointed there for a second but after seeing its replacement, congratulations! Tell us more about the new one.

Sure you didn't want to keep the old one for a parts car? Wouldn't even require painting.

[star_deceiver]

Well... now you have to post about this one for 10 years!

[CAMOGIRL]

I almost did the same thing! Still at times wish I had, but I really wanted something brand new. Congrats!!

[Blanco_Diablo]

Nice upgrade!!!

[cptnsolo77]

LOL.....you got me there Enjoy the power windows/lock & auto tranny upgrade

[Doug14]

Well played haha

[vibenvy]

I most definitely approve of the replacement !

288,848 miles is awesome! I bet you can beat that mileage with the "new" one though !

[joatmon]

The "new" one has M&T, power, and ABS. Has a little more than half the miles the old one had. Exterior actually has more blemishes than the old one, but to me that's trivial. The big deal is that I had to put a plastic liner on the floor of the garage under the old one to catch the 1-2 tbsp oil that dripped out each night, this new one drips zero and that far outweighs any cosmetics. The old one had side air bags, this new one doesn't. Old one was 03 Vibe number 27XXX, built 07/02, this one is 03 Vibe number 4XXX, built 02/02

Weird to redo the mods I had done to the old one. So far have just done the radio, the cluster and the 12V outlet constant power, For the 12V outlet, I found I could just reach up over the relay block above the glove compartment instead of unscrewing it and dropping it down, which made that one easier. Will probably skip some, like the DRL disable.

I had thought about buying a brand new car, but seemed silly knowing I would run the warranty out of it in about a year. Getting another satellite two tone was coincidence, but it was a good price. Now I can play a game where I wait to see when (or if) the folks that know me in the real world will notice the change in my car.

Still go to stomp the clutch when starting the car, or when approaching a red light I still reach for the shifter.

[thebarber]

Lol, nice swap. I felt similarly getting into a vgt from my xrs

[star_deceiver]

Still go to stomp the clutch when starting the car, or when approaching a red light I still reach for the shifter.

That doesn't go away... maybe toned down, though. I still stomp the imaginary clutch at least once a week,